LSU’s Kirsten Shortridge Named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla . --- The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America announced today that LSU’s Kirsten Shortridge (Keller, Texas) was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week for the week of March 8-14. The senior outfielder posted her best week of the season, hitting .727.

“This honor is great for our program. I wouldn’t have won this award without the help of my teammates and coaches,” said Shortridge. “Our lineup, defense and pitching are strong. It was important for us to start the SEC season strong, but we still have work to do to reach our goals for the season.”

Shortridge was 8-for-11 at the plate fueled by a trio of multi-hit performances to raise her season average by 43 points to a scorching .420 mark. She also scored seven runs, stole a base in each game and picked up three RBI from the leadoff spot to spark the Tigers to a weekend sweep at South Carolina.

“Kirsten had a fabulous opening SEC weekend and is very deserving of USA Softball’s prestigious award. In my 34 years of coaching, she is one of the most special athletes I’ve been blessed to coach,” said LSU Head Coach Yvette Girouard. “There are times when Kirsten looks like a woman amongst girls with the skills God has given her. This is a great honor for a senior who is very, very important to LSU softball reaching their team goals.”

The Preseason All-SEC Team selection saved a memorable 4-for-4 effort with four runs scored for the series finale over South Carolina. The four hits matched a career-high, while the four runs scored equaled a program single-game record as LSU pushed its league-best winning streak to 16 games.

About ASA

The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation's largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 210,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.

About USA Softball

USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive as well as claimed two World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit www.usasoftball.com.